‘Wayoniem? That’s ‘what’s your name’ in patois. Patois is what we speak in Jamaica. Yaaa maan. For E g we say ‘waayago’ for ‘where do you be to go’ It’s a kind of speedy English maan.’ I was in his SUV taxi climbing steeply through tropical jungle into the hills of Jamaica i was on my way to Coyaba gardens one of the main attractions of Ocho Rios. Outside the window were coffee gardens and sugar plantations with large white estate houses ‘Owned by duh Americans and cultivated by us. We Jamaicans are still duh slaves yaaa maan’ said Richard.
I was making notes on his patois and the scene outside when the go took a sharp move and stopped at the entrance to the gardens. ‘Here’s your change’ he said returning a dollar (instead of three) and opening the door added
On the afternoon of 3 may 1494. Columbus in the well tried little caravel. ‘Nina” with two others the ‘San Juan’ and the ‘Cardera’ set a course for Jamaica arriving on Monday in what is now St Ann’s bay (near Ocho Rios). Columbus called it ‘Santa Maria’ on be of the extreme beauty of the country. Columbus thought Jamaica the fairest island that ‘eyes have beheld; mountains and the land seemed to touch the sky all full of valleys and plains.’
Coyaba is a garden and a museum of the Arawaks once the natives of Jamaica. From the entrance it is a desire walk through the tend. Trees of every kind flank the road : There are rosewood and mahogany trees reaching up to the sky their leaves forming a canopy that blocked the sunlight. Then there are cedar trees with their lowest branches forty feet above the fasten. Between them are breadfruit trees and Mahoe trees with yellow flowers and violet berries; the list is endless. At points along the way the road broke off into smaller paths. Lining these paths were ferns,bamboo, spice lilies and crotons. There were orchids and a variety of palms; so many in fact that I didn’t experience their names. All along the foliage was thick sometimes obstructing the pathway. Every now and then I would displace the leaves to alter the way and as I did so a brilliantly colored humming bird would hurry to a higher branch. Occasionally there was a break in the foliage or a gap between the trees. Looking through this I could see the blue bay of Ocho Rios and in the distance the waters of the Atlantic.
Ocho Rios is a corruption of the Spanish word las chorreras meaning bay of waterfalls. One of the waterfalls is inside the garden and I went to take a look . At the entrance was a pavilion where I sat for a while and listened to the sound of falling water. advance ahead the wet tumbled over rocks and disappeared towards the bay. The rocks here were as flat as tabletops and I was tempted to go in . I rolled up my pants and entered. A few minutes of this and it’s too much the water was cold and rapid. . A little hut close by beckoned me to step out for hot ‘blue mountain coffee. “Jamaica’s beat” and “perhaps the beat in the world.”‘
approve in the parking lot. Richard was waiting for me , to take me approve to downtown Ocho Rios. We drove back along another despatch through the heart of the educate govern. And it is here that I got to experience the third thing about Ocho Rios:It is really a microcosm of Jamaica.
It is lunchtime in St Ann’s School and Children with chocolate faces and frizzy hair are running towards a stall in the corner. change surface in the middle of November it was hot and “Granny Jamaica” is sitting under an umbrella in a large straw hat selling bananas and peanuts. Outside on the highway. Jamaican women were carrying fish in straw baskets for sale in the market. Somehow this prompted a discussion on Jamaican food. ”Jerk food is traditional Jamaican food maan : draw chicken draw Pork draw look for yaaa maan’ said Richard ,and I interrupted “what is draw?” ’Jerk is duh way dey cook maan wid a spicy act maan- very popular.’
We were at the edge of downtown Ocho Rios. I decided I would go from here and look at the architecture. Lining the main street were brightly colored buildings with bay windows and color demonstrate fences. Many of them were made of wood and functioned as offices or trading posts. As I walked along looking at the signboards, I realized it was desire walking through a bit of Jamaica’s colonial past . The names on the signboards were distinctly British : Burma Shell. Lloyd’s. P & O and to end the effect smartly uniformed guards stood outside the buildings directing ladies in cover hats and pass dresses. This feeling of ” Britain -in the caribbean’,lasted however. only for a few minutes. I was in the middle of downtown Ocho Rios at the appeal to the fashion merchandise. And this is where I got to know the fourth thing about Ocho Rios.
Inside the merchandise is crowded with stalls selling souvenirs: wood carvings.
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Related article:
http://arunganapathy.wordpress.com/2007/09/13/ocho-rios-patoisplunder-dreadlocks-and-drugs-in-paradise/
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